metro

Area teens experience Israel's
people, places and spirituality.

T

M12 (nickname
for the Sue and Alan
J. Kaufman Family Detroit
Federation's 2012 Teen Mission) recently returned
from a 32-day educational trip to Israel, with 110 Metro
Detroit area teens in grades 9-12 participating. Joining them
were 12 teens from Detroit's Partnership2Gether region in the Central
Galilee. More than 80 percent of the local teens were first-timers to Israel.
The mission was made possible by a generous gift from the Sue and Alan
J. Kaufman family. Sue and Emily Kaufman experienced the mission with the
teens as well as Larry Tisdale, TM12 chair.
Teen Mission is a unique partnership between Federation and Metro Detroit
Reform and Conservative congregations. Rabbis Josh Bennett and Jen Lader of
Temple Israel, Rabbi Daniel Schwartz of Temple Shir Shalom and Rabbi Aaron
Starr of Congregation Shaarey Zedek led the three buses of teens. Accompanying
the group were Federation staff members including Rachel Taubman, Teen
Mission coordinator, and Yoav Raban, Outreach and Engagement coordinator
in Israel. Each bus also had three Metro Detroit madrichim (counselors)
and an Israeli madrich from the Central Galilee.
Other partners were Tamarack Camps, Detroit Jewish News,
Brody's Custom Printing, Jax Car Wash, Perfect Trading Co. and
Travelers World.
Metro Detroit teens look forward to welcoming
the TM12 Israeli participants to Michigan in
December for a reunion. ❑

Photos by Debbie
Hill/Federation

At the Kotel: Maxwell Gross of Franklin, Jeffrey

Berris and Jacob Migdal, both of West Bloomfield,

and Adam Katzman of Franklin.

Sarah Klein of

West Bloomfield

and Jessica

Levine of

Franklin harvest

tomatoes for

Leket Israel,

Israel's national

food bank.

CC Going to Israel

for me was a religious
and cultural experience that
made my connection with Israel
stronger. It was not one single experi-
ence like seeing the Kotel or climbing
Masada that affirmed my Judaism and
Jewish cultural identity; it was the
whole trip that confirmed it. 33

- Levi Teitel of West Bloomfield

Max Zuckerberg of West Bloomfield, Brandon Herman of Franklin, Alex Schwartz and Mathew Lefkofsky,

Kayaking on the Jordan River: TM12 Chair Larry Tisdale of

both of West Bloomfield, stand in formation during Gadna, an Israeli army experience.

West Bloomfield, counselor Liraz Cohen of Ra'anana, Israel, and

Stanley Wolf of West Bloomfield.

14

August 23 2012